Identify Unwanted Connection Attempts with Little Snitch 3 for Mac

As a hardcore Mac user, you probably have quite a few programs installed. You could either have a program that cleans up the junk uninstalled programs leave or an antivirus despite the few threats to Mac users.

But, do you have one that notifies you when a program you have installed is trying to send out information without your permission? A firewall can protect your Mac from unwanted users, but Little Snitch for Mac, you will always know when a program is sharing your information without you knowing about it.

How to Protect Your Data on Your Mac

Ever since your life went digital, you have so many things to worry about. One of those things is making sure that your data is not being shared without you knowing about it. But, how can you know when a program is sending your info to who know where?

That’s when a program for Mac called Little Snitch comes in. It will let you know when a program attempts to establish an outgoing Internet connection. You will also be in control as to whether you allow it or deny that request.

The program will also let you set up how you want to handle future connection attempts. You won’t even notice that Little Snitch is running since it will run quietly in the background. Not only will it alert you of an outgoing Internet connection but it also detects network related activity of Trojans, viruses and other malware.

The new version of the program has improved protection against simulated keystrokes and mouse clicks. There are also other stability improvements and bug fixes as well. Thanks to the real-time diagram you’ll get fine-grained traffic data and some great options for analyzing traffic totals, bandwidth, connectivity status and much more.

There is a useful feature called Silent Mode that will prevent any network related notifications from interrupting you. Little Snitch will create a log where you can set up a permanent rule for those kinds of connections in the future.

Little Snitch Network Monitor

Thanks to the Little Snitch Network Monitor you can also expect features such as:

Detailed traffic history of last hour, separate for each process, port, server and protocol

Variable zoom from one hour down to one-minute time range

The ¨Show Corresponding Rule¨you can see why a certain connection was denied or allowed

System Events will also be shown to see the network activity in its context

Little Snitch will show you all the denied connections

Filtering by processing server, name, port, etc.

Versatile sorting options and grouping.

Save Snapshots for later analysis

Get network traffic in PCAP format

Have you ever seen a process that you’ve never seen before all of a sudden wants to connect to a server? Well, if you ever want more information on a current connection to see what it’s all about you can. Thanks to the research assistant you can get that extra information you need.

Since you use the Internet in different places, different rules are going to apply. For example, there could be certain connections you won’t allow at home but you will at work. With the Automatic Profile Switching, you can set up different rules depending on the network you’re currently using.

You can activate the profiles manually or automatically from the status menu that’s linked with one of your profiles. I’ve already mentioned that Little Snitch will let you know of any outgoing connections, but it will also let you know of the ones that are trying to get in as well.

How to Apply Temporary Rules for Connections

The rules you set up can cover a list of various domains, hostnames, or arbitrary IP addresses ranges that will help you to make your ruleset easier for you. If you only want the rules you set up to only apply for a certain amount of time, you can do that too. You can either have the rule apply for 30 minutes, 15 minutes, until restart or until logout.

The program also includes System Process Rules that creates rules for a certain process owner. That makes it easier to set up rules for system level processes such as web servers. If you set up a particular for a particular type of connection, with just one click, you can turn that rule into a permanent one.

With so many connections, it’s only natural to make a mistake, but Little Snitch has it covered. It will analyze the ruleset and show you any overlapping, invalid or redundant rules to everything is in order.

Download Little Snitch 3 for Mac

As you can see Little Snitch 3 is a great program for your Mac to stay on top of the connections that are doing things they shouldn’t be. You can easily stay on top of those unauthorized connections with ease.

If you want to give Little Snitch a try you can download it from the company’s official site. You can either download Little Snitch 3 as a free trial or you can buy it directly.It’s always a better idea to test it out so you can see if it’s the program that best fits your needs.